1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable terminal. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method of discretionarily setting a characteristic of an accessory connected to a portable terminal and an accessory operation system supporting the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Due to rapid technological development, a portable terminal has various functions. For example, in addition to a simple voice call function and a short message transmission function, the portable terminal has functions such as a video call, an electronic organizer function, an interne function, and the like. The portable terminal basically supports, for example, a voice collection function, an audio output function, and a screen display function in order to support a call function. Particularly, a conventional portable terminal provides an audio output conversion function included in the audio output function to provide an audio output to an earphone in addition to a speaker.
The earphone that is used in a conventional portable terminal includes earphones having a different number and/or configuration of poles. For example, a portable terminal may include a three pole earphone or a four pole earphone. Earphones having the same number of poles may have a different pole placement or configuration depending on a region in which the earphone is distributed. For example, earphones may have an American configuration or an European configuration. In the earphones manufactured as such, devices used for manufacturing the earphones may have different characteristics, or the earphones may have different characteristics according to respective specifications of earphone manufacturers.
Meanwhile, the conventional portable terminal detects an insertion of the earphone thereto by identifying an interrupt that is generated when the earphone is inserted to the portable terminal and supports an earphone function accordingly. In this process, the conventional portable terminal examines and compares an electrical characteristic of a particular input signal generated in the earphone with a preset value to determine which input signal is generated in the earphone. However, as described above, because the earphone has a different characteristic depending on each manufacturer or product, the portable terminal may not recognize an input signal from a certain earphone even when the earphone has a similar type and the same number of poles with respect to an earphone specified for the portable terminal. Thus, a user needs to purchase a specific earphone that matches with the portable terminal of the user, which causes inconvenience in searching for the specific earphone. Also, purchase choices are limited so that requirements for a product need are increased. Also, even when the user purchases the specific earphone, if an electrical characteristic of the corresponding earphone is in a range not recognized by the portable terminal, poor earphone recognition may occur, and thus, a proper solution to the problems is needed.
The above information is presented as background information only to assist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determination has been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the above might be applicable as prior art with regard to the present invention.